特朗普顾问史蒂夫·班农其人

Who Is Top Trump¹ Adviser² Steve Bannon?

President Donald Trump’s chief political strategist, Steve Bannon, has received much media attention since starting his job at the White House.

Last week, Trump reorganized his National Security Council to give Bannon a seat on its “principals committee.” Lawmakers and former administration officials criticized the move. They said Bannon should focus on his role as political adviser instead of attending meetings with national security and military officials.

Bannon also recently spoke³ out against the U.S. news media in an interview with the New York Times. He said, “the media here is the opposition⁴ party. He added that he believes that news organizations had been “humiliated” by the 2016 presidential election result.

“They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States,” Bannon said.

He was not immediately available for an interview with VOA.

Bannon was born in November 1953 to working-class parents in Norfolk, Virginia. He once described growing up in "a blue-collar, Irish Catholic, pro-Kennedy, pro-union family of Democrats⁶."

His father, a telephone worker, was badly affected⁷ by the 2008 economic crisis. Bannon himself has criticized bankers and traders who were not punished for their role in starting the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Bannon studied urban affairs at Virginia Polytechnic⁸ Institute. According to the Boston Globe newspaper, Bannon returned home to Richmond, Virginia, during the summer to work in a local junkyard. He went on to earn a graduate degree from Georgetown University in Washington D.C., and later a master’s in Business Administration from Harvard University.

Bannon served for seven years in the U.S. Navy aboard ships. He also served on a guided missile destroyer in the Persian Gulf⁹. Later, he was a special assistant to the Chief of Naval¹⁰ Operations in the Pentagon.

After his military service, Bannon went to work for investment bank Goldman Sachs. He later started his own investment company. He also produced films in Hollywood.

Bannon produced more than a dozen movies during the 1990s. During that time, he made a deal that gave him a piece of ownership of several television shows. One of them was the hit show “Seinfeld,” which ended up making him millions of dollars.

Before joining Trump’s campaign, Bannon served as executive chairman of Breitbart News, a conservative news site. He took over the site after founder¹¹ Andrew Breitbart died in 2012.

Bannon has described the news site as a “platform” for what has been called the Alternative Right, or “alt-right." The alt-right is a far-right movement that publicizes – largely on the Internet – extreme conservative ideas.

Under Bannon’s leadership, the website published stories supporting nationalist, anti-establishment positions. It also published many stories in support of Trump and others critical of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate.

Breitbart News has been criticized for publishing stories with racist¹² and sexist ideas. One headline asked, "Would you rather your child had feminism or cancer?"

Bannon left Breitbart News in 2016 to work as a senior member of Trump's presidential campaign. He said he has had nothing to do with Breitbart since then.

Words in This Story

strategist – n. person good at making plan

humiliate⁵ – v. make someone feel ashamed of foolish

blue-collar – adj. relating to jobs that require physical work

junkyard – n. place where old or useless things are taken

dozen – n. twelve, or a group of twelve

hit – n. something recognized as a success

headline – n. title of a newspaper or website story

feminism – n. belief that women should have the same equal rights and opportunities as men

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 humiliate   

v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace

参考例句：

• What right had they to bully and humiliate people like this?凭什么把人欺侮到这个地步呢？
• They pay me empty compliments which only humiliate me.他们虚情假意地恭维我，这只能使我感到羞辱。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 polytechnic   

adj.各种工艺的，综合技术的；n.工艺(专科)学校；理工(专科)学校

参考例句：

• She was trained as a teacher at Manchester Polytechnic.她在曼彻斯特工艺专科学校就读，准备毕业后做老师。
• When he was 17,Einstein entered the Polytechnic Zurich,Switzerland,where he studied mathematics and physics.17岁时，爱因斯坦进入了瑞士苏黎士的专科学院，学习数学和物理学。

9 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

10 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

11 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

12 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。